Tag: Autumn 2021

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Platinum End

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 24

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Ever since the death of his family and his adoption by an unloving aunt and uncle, Mirai hasn’t felt happiness in his life. After his middle school graduation he walks to the roof of a tall building and leaps off its edge. However, before he hits the ground he’s rescued by an angel, glowing and clad in white, who claims to be his guardian angel. Her goal is to grant him happiness, and she provides him with the tools to do so – a red arrow that causes its targets to fall in love with him, and angel wings that grant him flight and super speed. Mirai doesn’t feel as though he’ll ever be happy, but his first flight is exhilarating and he begins to believe that his angel might be telling the truth.

The red arrow has the added benefit of its target doing whatever the caster asks, so Mirai uses it on his aunt to confirm a horrible truth – the accident that killed his other family members was actually a murder committed by his uncle and aunt. The magic of the arrow causes his aunt to atone for her sin through death and Mirai escapes into the night. Mirai’s guardian angel, called Nasse, fills him in on some other important details. There are 13 angel users around that are vying with one-another to become the next god – and now Mirai has become involved in this deadly quest.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impression – Banished from the Hero’s Party…

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 13

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Red is a quiet man, well-liked among the citizens of Zoltan, but with a personality that leads many to believe he might be obscuring parts of his past. And in truth, he is; he was once among the hero’s party that was set to confront the demon lord, but though Red’s wide range of skills and blessings as a “guide” provided him with many valuable abilities as an adventurer, he was eventually convinced that his services were no longer needed. As his sister Ruti became well-known as a heroic leader, Red allowed himself to fade into the background.

Now Red lives a slow life in Zoltan, holding onto the modest dream of building an apothecary shop and putting his survivalist skills to good use. When he rescues a village child using his knowledge of medicine (despite the actions of some careless heroes who set fire to the forest), Red works out a deal to get his shop built. When Rit, a well-known loner adventurer stops into town, she seems curious about Red and about the life he’s chosen to lead.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The World’s Finest Assassin

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: The world’s finest assassin completes his final mission with efficiency and the utmost effectiveness, providing a model for the protégé he’s been forced to drag along by his governing agency. But the mission doesn’t quite go off without a hitch – the duo is spotted by a military drone on their way from the job site and are forced to make other escape plans. It’s during the night that the assassin proves why he’s the best – he’s quieted his emotions and never trusts anyone.

As the day dawns, the two arrive back at base and are provided tickets to Japan; here the assassin will begin a new life training others like him within the organization. But betrayal is in the cards and the plane flight ends almost as quickly as it began, with all aboard being killed as part of the organization’s plot to silence their finest. But the assassin’s frustrated soul is grabbed by the goddess, who offers him a tantalizing deal in exchange for his help in a certain matter. He’ll be reborn in another world, one of fantasy and magic, with his memories and skills intact if he promises to use those skills to murder the world’s Hero.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – PuraOre! ~Pride of Orange~

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Multimedia Project

Episode Summary: The members of the junior high embroidery club are used to turning their stitches one-by-one into small works of art. But when Manaka invites the other group members to attend an information session for the Dream Monkeys, the local ice hockey team, they start to discover a much different way of weaving together their various talents and skills.

The mastermind behind this beginner’s class is Coach Matsunaga, a former player and someone with high aspirations for the Dream Monkeys. Not only is she on the lookout for new team members, she hopes to incorporate a brand new form of entertainment into the games – having the team members perform a victory dance following their wins, thus turning each hockey match into a show. This goal seems questionable on its surface but it just might work; the members of the embroidery club, as well as a couple of students from a neighboring school, all seem interested in giving this new sport a try.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Tesla Note

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 13

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: From a young age, Botan’s grandfather has trained her as a spy in the ways of the ninja in preparation for a greater purpose to come. Much to her surprise, this greater purpose actually manifests and she becomes involved in “Mission T,” a quest to recover a set of crystalline shards left behind by the famous inventor Nicola Tesla 70 years ago. Time is ticking, however, and she and her somewhat-unwilling new partner, a spy named Kuruma must find these shards before they’re assembled into a full crystal and used for nefarious purposes.

This time-sensitive quest brings Botan and Kuruma to Oslo, Norway, where a train appears to have mysteriously warped from one point to another within the city, causing destruction and bodily harm. As Botan infiltrates the walled-off research area, she discovers the horrifying aftermath of the accident, including mutilated bodies and even a survivor who’s lost his wits. This put their team on the radar of the authorities, so they must make a quick getaway. This helps Kuruma to gain a little bit of respect for Botan as a partner.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: With the midcentury space race in full swing, the communist UZSR seems to be in a winning position. Having completed the first space flight with a living being aboard (a dog named Daly), they’re again tasked with reaching for the stars – sending a human being into space during a live broadcast. Such a thing would cement the position of the Union as the world leader in space exploration, but it comes with some complications; namely, that with such prestige at stake, any error would likely spell shame and death to those who had failed their country.

Lev is a failed cosmonaut candidate assigned to the top secret Project Mechtat, which aims to skirt by on several technicalities – namely using a vampire as their cosmonaut test subject rather than a human soldier. Irina, codenamed N44 and the vampire in question, serves as a test subject in this program. Biologically similar to humans, she becomes the vehicle by which stresses on the human body during space flight are tested, and if she dies in the process, well, she was only considered a test object by the standards of the program. Lev is ordered to remain emotionally hands-off as her handler during this mission, but despite the many myths surrounding vampires, he already finds himself focused on her inherent humanity.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The Vampire Dies in no Time

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Ronaldo is the world’s premiere vampire hunter, so when he catches wind of a potential vampire-related kidnapping involving Draluc, a so-called progenitor vampire, he jumps at the chance to intervene. As Ronaldo enters Draluc’s lair, however, it’s obvious that the situation is not quite what it seems. The missing child has just been sneaking in to play Draluc’s video games, and Draluc is so weak that he turns to sand at the slightest provocation. Though Ronaldo tries to handle things as a proper vampire hunter, one thing leads to another and he ends up destroying Draluc’s home.

Now homeless, Draluc travels to Ronaldo’s agency and takes up residence there. As the two argue over the propriety of this arrangement, Ronaldo is called to handle another local vampire crisis, this time at the convenience store right downstairs. There, a wannabe vampire threatens a hostage. But of course, the situation is somewhat more emotionally complex and involves an unrequited love never fated to be successful. With the local journalists now aware of Ronaldo’s “arrangement” with Draluc, there’s no going back to being a one-man operation for Ronaldo.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 25

Source: Original

Episode Summary: It’s the year 2061. For years, Japan struggled under a declining birthrate and economy, which made it a ripe environment for outside countries to take advantage of beneath the guise of offering aid. Now, the different factions battle one-another using unmanned battle units called AMAIMs. Amou Shiiba is an orphaned Japanese citizen – a member of the underclass – who works as a scrapper, collecting remnants of broken AMAIM units. His friends use the spare parts to upgrade their personal electronics and vehicles, but Amou has a much larger project in the pipeline – a full suit of AMAIM battle armor he happened to find sitting in an abandoned warehouse.

When the authorities catch wind of Amou’s scrapper group, his comrades are captured and used to try to lure Amou out of hiding. But what these colonizers fail to realize is that Amou has a trump card. After finding an abandoned AI unit named Gai in the woods with the know-how to bring Amou’s AMAIM online, he now owns one of the only manned units around. And human thoughts and reflexes, coupled with AI information, seem to be a powerful force that might turn the tables against the factions that have taken over Japan.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew it, My Life Had it Made

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Seiichi Hiiragi is the target of his class’s bullying, and when a literal god decides on a whim to transport the entire class to another world, this doesn’t change. While his classmates buddy-up into parties and arrive in a local castle town, Seiichi ends up in the middle of the wilderness. Despite his luck stat starting at “0,” though, he seems to have at least a bit of it on his side; he happens to find a “fruit of evolution” on the ground which he eats to fend off starvation. Though it tastes terrible, it seems to set the stage for his future success.

The mechanics of this new world are awfully game-like, and somehow Seiichi finds himself defeating monsters, gaining more skills, and “evolving” – a painful process where his body actually physically changes. Gone is the heavy-set kid he once was, replaced by a more average physique. After several months, word of his power gets out, and Seiichi is suddenly confronted by Saria, Kaiser of the clever apes. She immediately seems smitten by Seiichi’s show of power, and though she fights to kill, Seiichi’s survival skills win out – and win Saria’s heart in the process.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Takt op. Destiny

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Part of a multimedia project which includes a game.

Episode Summary: One fateful day a black meteorite fell to Earth and unleashed the D2, creatures who hate the sounds that humans make, especially the beautiful harmonies to be found in music. Now, playing any sort of music runs the risk of attracting swarms of D2, so there are many people who no longer even remember what music sounds like. But just as humanity began to lose all hope the Conductors and Musicarts appeared, using the power of music to defeat the D2.

Takt and Cosette are a partnered Conductor and Musicart, although their ability to work well together is somewhat lacking. Their de facto handler, Anna, does her best to wrangle their disparate personalities in service of a shared goal – to reach New York so that Cosette can be “repaired” by the Symphonica there. Their journey eastward is bound to be dotted with challenges, not the least of which is their ability to effectively combine their powers and achieve their goals as one.

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